The Man I Love [L’homme que j’aime] *** (1997, Jean-Michel Portal, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo, Mathilde Seigner, Vittoria Scognamiglio) – Classic Movie Review 12,770

The 1997 French film The Man I Love [L’homme que j’aime] follows an attractive bitter-sweet love story between two Frenchmen who meet while working at a Marseilles swimming pool.

The openly gay Marseilles swimming pool attendant Martin (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) is strongly attracted to his handsome, apparently straight pool co-worker, diver Lucas (Jean-Michel Portal). But the introspective and confused Lucas isn’t as straight as he says he is, or as tough as he acts. He has a live-in girlfriend, Lise (Mathilde Seigner), but finds himself reluctantly and gradually falling in love with Martin.

Director and writer Stéphane Giusti’s attractive 1997 French gay romance film The Man I Love [L’homme que j’aime] is Lucas’s story of coming out and of first true love, as its initial pleasures give way to harsh reality when it is revealed that Martin is HIV-positive. So it is also Martin’s story of last love. It is a quirky, appealing, moving bitter-sweet film with an effectively delivered, determinedly positive message to live each day of your life as if it were your last because it actually may be.

The film is propelled by a decent script and two nice lead performances, and topped off with fragrant views of Marseilles and area. It is now dated, a bit faded, but still alive, strong and relevant. It tugs fairly delicately at the heartstrings, but handle with care, as the last third of the film is a vale of tears.

It’s entirely Jean-Michel Portal and Marcial Di Fonzo Bo’s show, and they are up for it. Mathilde Seigner is effective in a tricky role as the increasingly unsympathetic Lise, and Vittoria Scognamiglio makes her mark with a showstopping turn as Martin’s mother Rose.

A co-production between Arte and La Sept, it was originally made for French TV and broadcast on 5 December 1997, but later released in cinemas internationally on 27 April 2001.

The cast are Jean-Michel Portal as Lucas, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo as Martin, Mathilde Seigner as Lise, Vittoria Scognamiglio as Rose, Jacques Hansen, Stephane Leveque, Karim Lounis, Bernard Nissile, Bruno Bonomo, Benjamin Sanchiarelli, Serguei Tourountsev, Nedjib Djebarri, Louis Philippe Lopez and Elizabeth Giusti.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,770

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com